January 28, 2025 PA Partnerships for Children Releases 2025-26 Roadmap Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC) has released its roadmap for the next two years, outlining priorities in five policy areas. Learn More The PPC Board of Directors has unveiled its 2025-26 Policy Roadmap that reflects the organization’s mission to improve the health, education, and well-being of children in the state as well as advance racial equity and support families affected by poverty. The board of directors listed five priorities in policy areas: Child welfare: Ensuring each child in Pennsylvania has the opportunity to grow up in a home where they are safe and protected from abuse and neglect Early care and education: Ensuring each child has the opportunity to participate in affordable and accessible high-quality early care and education, including infant and toddler child care and pre-kindergarten education Home visiting: Ensuring each child has the opportunity to grow up in a stable and healthy home environment K-12 education: Ensuring each child has the opportunity for an adequate and equitable high-quality public education Perinatal and child health: Ensuring each parent and child can access affordable, quality health care To view the 2025-26 Roadmap, visit the PPC Board of Directors’ website.
October 22, 2024 ELPA Releases Report on State of Early Care and Education in PA The Early Learning PA (ELPA) coalition has released a new report on the state of early care and education in Pennsylvania. Learn More The report, Providing the Necessary Foundation for Young Children to Succeed, includes a number of findings regarding the effect on the state when families can access child care options. It also provides policy recommendations about recruitment and retention for the child care workforce. The report states that the focus of the ELPA coalition – of which Pre-K for PA, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, and Start Strong PA are members – advocates for access to high-quality early care and education and healthy development opportunities for all Pennsylvania children. The report takes a deeper look into complexities within the state’s child care and pre-k system and recommends improvements that are necessary to ensure the system functions equitably. Its aim is to increase access and affordability for all Pennsylvania families. Key Findings The report’s key findings include: 71% of families with young children in the state have all available caregivers in the workforce. Pennsylvania loses about $6.65 billion annually when families cannot access child care options. Only 25% of eligible infants and toddlers are being served by Child Care Works, leaving more than 73,000 eligible infants and toddlers unserved. On average, child care for an infant in Pennsylvania comprises about 17.5% of the median family’s income. The state’s average wage of a child care worker is about $15.15 per hour. Only 46% of all child care capacity in Pennsylvania meets high-quality standards and only 36% of providers serving children under age 5 in Child Care Works are high-quality. Only 46% of eligible 3- and 4-year-olds participate in high-quality, publicly-funded pre-k, leaving more than 78,000 without access to a high-quality program. At 49%, child care programs comprise the largest share of Pre-K Counts providers in the state, with half of Pre-K Counts children being served in high-quality child care centers. The average salary for pre-k teachers in the state is $34,430, compared to $68,250 for kindergarten teachers. 96% of kindergarten teachers agree that students who attend high-quality pre-k programs are ready for success when they start kindergarten. Policy Recommendations The report’s recommendations for policymakers in Pennsylvania include: Implementing and continually funding a recruitment and retention model to increase the child care workforce and ensure providers have the staff needed to operate at full capacity Cease using market-rate surveys, instead conducting cost estimation studies to develop an approved modeling tool to determine the true cost of providing high-quality care; this would ensure accurate investment in state funding in the child care sector to build an infrastructure that would support providers Increasing state and federal funding for the child care sector to serve more infants and toddlers Increasing state pre-k investments in Pre-K Counts and HSSAP Developing and fully funding a pay parity policy for pre-k teachers that reflects wages provided to teachers in the K-12 system Requiring OCDEL to produce a report every three years that provides a clear picture of the early childhood workforce, using state-level and county data and including recommendations on how Pennsylvania can better support the profession Expanding the number of high-quality providers by increasing incentives within the state’s QRIS, Keystone STARS Providing additional opportunities for professional development and career advancement for the early care and education workforce Conducting an equity audit of the state’s early care and education system to understand better the changes needed to ensure equitable access for all children The entire report can be viewed online.
October 7, 2024 Report Finds That PA Early Learning Shortage Poses Risk to Economy A report from Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children notes that the state faces an historic early learning workforce shortage. Learn More A coordinated early care and education system ensures that infants, toddlers, and preschoolers succeed in school and allows parents to work while knowing their children are safe and learning in high-quality care. But Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children’s 2024 State of Early Care and Education report found that this coordinated system that is vital to the economy could be threatened by the early learning workforce shortage. The report uses data and research to show that without new investments in the child care workforce, Pre-K Counts, or the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program, early learning providers will continue to lose teachers and close classrooms. Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children worked with Early Learning Pennsylvania (ELPA), a statewide coalition of advocates that includes Pre-K for PA and Start Strong PA, on the report. Inadequate Funding The report shows that inadequate funding for the early care and education system has led to supply-side issues affecting families’ abilities to find affordable, high-quality care. It has also impacted providers’ abilities to be compensated fairly to pay teachers and maintain business expenses. Without direct investment in the child care sector’s workforce, the crisis will continue, likely resulting in more classroom closures and more working parents struggling to find care for their children, the report noted. The report recommends implementing and funding a recruitment and retention model to increase the child care workforce and ensure that providers have the staff needed to operate at full capacity. It also suggests increasing state investments in the Pre-K Counts and Head Start Supplemental Assistance programs as well as developing and funding a pay parity policy for pre-K teachers that reflects wages provided to teachers in the K-12 system. Other Findings Other findings in the report include: Only 46% of eligible 3- and 4-year-olds participate in high-quality, publicly funded pre-K, leaving more than 78,000 without access to a high-quality program. Unlivable wages of less than $15.15 per hour are causing an historic workforce shortage, closing classrooms and driving up waitlists for working parents. Child care providers can’t raise teacher wages because families are already struggling to afford care costs. On average, costs for infant child care comprise about 17% of the Pennsylvania median family income. Only 25% of eligible children under age three are served by Child Care Works, leaving more than 73,000 eligible infants and toddlers unserved. The full report is available on Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children’s website.
December 13, 2021 2021 State of Child Welfare Report Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children has released their 2021 State of Child Welfare Report, which raises concerns about the need to strengthen the child welfare system. Data was collected in 2020, highlighting only the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report shows a decrease in child protective services reporting and the number of children placed in foster care statewide. Report Findings In 2020 there were 32,919 CPS reports, which was a 22% decline in reports from 2019, but the substantiation of reports was the highest in the last five years, with 14% of reports being investigated and found to be true. Notably, stay-at-home orders, moving to virtual learning, and less contact with medical professionals created a significant decrease in mandated reporting trends during the year for which the most recent data is available. While substantiation rates did increase, data from 2021 will be significant to see how trends shift as schools resumed in-person instruction. There was subsequently more interaction between mandated reporters, such as teachers, with children and families. We anticipate the 2021 data will show an increase in referrals and a potential decrease in substantiation as the system struggles to respond to the needs of children experiencing abuse and neglect during an unprecedented time of crisis. In 2020, 21,689 children were served in the Pennsylvania foster care system, a 12% decrease in the total population from the prior year. Fewer referrals being made by mandated reporters means fewer occasions to identify abuse leading to placement. Additional Information The full 2021 State of Child Welfare report, as well as a snapshot for each county, can be viewed on the Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children website.
